Research On The Evolution Of US Arms Sales Policy To Taiwan After The Cold War

Since the end of the Cold War,the arms sales policy of the US to Taiwan has been dynamically adjusted.As a policy tool of the U.S.strategy toward China,it has been inherited by successive U.S.governments for more than 30 years,and it has been continuously adjusted and enriched in different government periods.This article uses literature induction and data analysis to make an in-depth analysis of the evolution and tendency of that policy.The study finds that the arms sales policy of the U.S.toward Taiwan has shown gradual and phased changes in the historical vertical.This change is manifested in the following three aspects.First of all,in terms of quantity,the number of arms sales to Taiwan is increasing.The adjustment of the international power structure and strategic changes to China because of the end of the Cold War have caused the United States to refocus on arms sales to Taiwan.The George H Bush administration opened a precedent for large-scale arms sales to Taiwan.The Clinton administration,which had an ideological prejudice against China and was in economic difficulties,increased its arms sales to Taiwan on the basis of the former administration.The frequency of arms sales during its tenure has got to the top since the Cold War.The George W Bush administration that just came to power regards Chinese mainland as a strategic competitor.The high-ranking government officials of the U.S.with strong realism behind it have used arms sales to Taiwan as an important means of strategic competition against Chinese mainland.The amount of arms sales is even higher than that of the previous administration.During the Obama administration,Sino-U.S.relation was in an unprecedented stage of stability.Although the Obama administration restrained on the Taiwan question and worked hard to prevent arms sales to Taiwan from affecting Sino-U.S.relations,with huge cost input of the previous administration,the Obama administration has also carried out three arms sales to Taiwan due to policy inertia.The amount has been maintained at a fairly high level.By the time of the Trump administration,China and the United States entered a state of comprehensive strategic competition.The Trump administration frequently made petty action on the Taiwan question,and arms sales to Taiwan were also one of the aspects,especially the year before the end of the term of office.The sale proposal provoked Chinese mainland,and its total tenure category reached the highest value in history.Secondly,in terms of quality,the content of US arms sales to Taiwan is getting better and better.In view of the restrictions of the communique signed after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States and the sensitivity of Sino-US relation.Before the end of the Cold War,the arms sales to Taiwan usually sold old hardware weapons used by the US military and its allies,accompanied by certain component and logistics services.However,after the end of the Cold War,the United States took advantage of the " Sino-U.S.Joint Communique on U.S.Arms Sales to Taiwan " and continued to expand the scope of its arms sales in Taiwan.In addition to hardware weapons,the United States has also begun to sell software and arms sales-related supporting services to Taiwan,which makes the United States’ arms sales to Taiwan on par with its "allies" in terms of treatment.The direct consequence of the expansion of arms sales items is that more and more advanced weapons are seen in the list of the arms sales of the U.S.toward Taiwan,from the George H Bush administration’s Patriot missiles and F16 aircraft to the Clinton administration’s series of software and harpoon missiles,from George W Bush administration’s anti-submarine aircraft,destroyers,and helicopters to a series of advanced weapons that were not sold previously by the United States in the later period of the Trump administration.Finally,the timing of arms sales of the U.S.to Taiwan is becoming more and more arbitrary.In the past,the policy,especially when it sold large amounts and more sensitive items,would choose more special time points.Firstly,the time of the first arms sales to Taiwan after successive presidents taking office will cause a lot of attention.Clinton,Bush Jr.,and Trump started arms it within half a year after taking office.This reflects the U.S.government lay stress on Taiwan’s strategic significance.The second is when Sino-US relation is in trouble,such as after the political movement of China in the Bush administration,after the Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996,the South China Sea collision in 2001,and after the Trump administration provoked a trade war against Taiwan.The arms sales is relatively frequent,and it reflects that the US government the uses arms sales to Taiwan as a policy tool to check and balance Chinese mainland.Finally,the United States represented by the Obama administration will carry out arms sales to Taiwan without warning during the good relationship between the U.S.and China,and it will be a large batch of arms sales.However,in the later period of Trump,the US government was frequently mentioning " normalization of arms sales to Taiwan." From the above three perspectives,the author understands the normalization of arms sales to Taiwan as a process.First of all,in terms of quantity,the frequency and quantity are gradually increasing.To maintain arms sales to Taiwan,the U.S.adopt the tactic of "boiling frogs in warm water" in an attempt to make Chinese mainland passively get used to it even in a period of good Sino-US relation.In terms of quality,it is also constantly improving,in an attempt to create a window-breaking effect in the " Sing-U.S.Joint Communique on U.S.Arms Sales to Taiwan".Finally,the U.S.is no longer superficially taking into account the feelings of Chinese mainland on timing.In general,the evolution of the arms sales policy toward Taiwan after the end of the Cold War is gradually breaking through the "Sing-U.S.Joint Communique on U.S.Arms Sales to Taiwan " to achieve normalization of arms sales to Taiwan,enabling the United States to use the policy tools to hinder China’s reunification for a long time,interfere with the development process of Chinese Mainland,maintain the strategic interests of the United States in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific region in order to achieve the strategic goal of "using Taiwan to control China" to contain China’s prosperity.